‘They came to kill him’

The relatives of 34-year-old fruit vendor Darie Simon have little doubt that he was the intended target of gunmen who used assault rifles to shoot and kill him and Sharlene Ramkissoon during an attack at his fruit shed in St Joseph on Tuesday afternoon.

Simon and Ramkissoon were at the shed at the corner of Maracas Royal Road and Acono Road, at around 4.15 pm when they were hit by a volley of shots fired by gunmen. Both died at the scene.

Newsday went to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Wednesday and spoke to Simon’s sister Sherry Ann Simon who said she was deeply troubled by her brother’s death but knew he was the intended target of the gunmen based on the number of shots he received.

“I went to the hospital and I saw how they shot up his head. I know they came to kill him but I don’t know why. He was self-employed, sold fruits and vegetables and sometimes he would buy and sell cars,” she said.

The murders of Simon and Ramkissoon wasn’t the only killings in Maracas, St Joseph, this week, as an unidentified man was stabbed to death at Pepper Village in St Joseph, on Monday afternoon.

In light of the killings, Simon’s sister said she is fearful for her own life and believes she too would have been dead if she was at the fruit stall with her brother. “Of course I am fearful for my own life, because Sharlene was so innocent. I am taking it really hard.

If I was there and I saw Sharlene I would have walked up to her and chat with her because I haven’t seen her in a little while, so it could have just as easily been me dead too.”

Newsday attempted to speak to Ramkissoon’s relatives but they all said they did not want to speak much on the matter.